England captain and all-rounder sung praises for flamboyant India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant and said he ‘loves the way the Indian takes it on, in all formats of the game.’
“Even though he’s my opposition, I absolutely love watching Rishabh play cricket,” Stokes said in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Tuesday.
“I love the way he takes it on, in all formats of the game. He got stick in his time, but when you let that type of talent be free, that’s what can happen like last week, credit to him for two hundreds in the game,” added Stokes.
Stokes admits Pant is a dangerous player, but he believes England will have opportunities to get him out every time he bats.
“We know we’re going to get our chances, with the way Rishabh plays. So yeah, it’s one of them. On a different day, it could have looked a little bit different if one of those had gone straight up and into hands, but yeah, (he is) a very dangerous player. We know what he brings to the Indian team but I really enjoy watching Rishabh play cricket,” said Stokes.
Pant’s heroics
Pant became only the second wicketkeeper in Test history to score hundreds in both innings of a match against England at Headingley. The left-hander lit up the Test with scores of 134 in the first innings and 118 in the second and was well supported by centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal, skipper Shubman Gill and KL Rahul. Yet, even the mountain of runs wasn’t enough to deny England a stunning win.
Centuries from England vice captain Ollie Pope, opener Ben Duckett and a stunning 99 from Harry Brook ensured the home team stayed in the contest and eventually won the Leeds Test by five wickets in the final session of Day 5.
